We give you the scuttlebutt on academic journals—aiding you in selecting the right journal for publication—in reviews that are sometimes snarky, sometimes lengthy, always helpful. Written by Princeton University graduate students and Wendy Laura Belcher.

French Studies

For those interested in publishing articles that concern a broad range of topics in French and Francophone literature, film, culture, and theory from the medieval period to the twenty-first century. However, articles on French literature in the nineteenth and twentieth century predominate (“Francophone” literature is lightly represented, with perhaps one article a year).

Articles from all periods are selected for publication; articles on material from the nineteenth to the twentieth century have a slightly higher representation with a little over 40% for the past five years, while ones covering the eighteenth century make up less than 20% of articles. Medieval and early modern make up approximately 10% each.

Submissions are accepted in both English and French. The journal does not seem to be concerned with the ratio of English-French articles, although there are fewer French articles: some issues only contain articles in English, others include more French articles than the English, or vice versa. That is to say, their concern is not the language but the quality of the articles.

As they claim on their website, the journal is “ the most comprehensive source…in French studies,” it covers a wide breadth of subject from film to critical theories. However, in each issue, literature is the dominant subject, followed by philosophy/critical inquiries, linguistics and films. Philosophical subjects tend to overlap with literary genres or subjects, as opposed to being a pure conceptual inquiry.

Few literary figures/philosophers/film makers are discussed repeatedly; except for Marcel Proust (7 articles in the past five years). Montaigne and Corneille are the only other authors with more than one article in the past five years.

The subjects vary as well, but some recurring topics are: gender, hetero/homo-sexuality, sexual politics, aesthetics, body, and (urban) space. Among other topics, it may be worth mentioning that the question of “Frenchness” recurs, which is unique to this journal. The focus is on the canon.

About 1 out of 5 articles analyzes a literary text through the lens of a theorist such as Derrida, Foucault, Barthes, or Deleuze.

The journal occasionally has a special issue, however, there was only one special issue over the past 5 years, which was on “The Medieval Library” (Vol. Issue 2, 2016).

Reviewed by TS

Useful for Submission

Word Count: Articles should not, as a rule, exceed 6,000-8,000 words in length, including notes.